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MOUNT GILEAD, Ohio — During the years she was married, and in those after she left her husband, Danielle Morlan says he threatened, intimidated and verbally abused her.

Even after she filed for divorce and found her own place, her ex, William W.E. White, kept coming after her, she said, calling her at work, calling her on her cellphone, sending her text messages that were alternately threatening and sweet.

She’d go to a gas station, and he’d pull in behind her, hurling insults such as “pizza face” in her direction. She’d come home from work, and screens in her windows and doors would be cut.

Once, in 2011, he beat in her front door, she said. That time, she called the police. They charged White with criminal damaging and telephone harassment.

But when the case made it to the Morrow County Municipal Court, right around the same time that she filed for divorce, it stalled. The judge there, Lee McClelland, said he would not rule on a case that involved domestic violence if a divorce was pending. McClelland postponed the criminal cases against White, refusing to consider the evidence against him until their divorce was resolved.

The decision shocked Morlan, who had spent years trying to work up the courage to ask for help. The system that was meant to protect her, she felt, let her down.

“I was in amazement when the prosecutor gave me the reasoning that, well, the judge doesn’t like things to be held against the other person,” Morlan said. “I was like, well, isn’t that what the court system is for? It’s like they’re saying they would have prosecuted him if I’d just stayed married to him.”

White could not be reached for this story.

McClelland said he doesn’t remember applying the policy to Morlan’s case specifically. But it wouldn’t surprise him: The policy, the judge said, has been in place for years. In his mind, ruling on a domestic-violence case could unfairly affect the outcome of a divorce, so he prefers to keep them separate.

“If the defendant is found not guilty, then he runs to the divorce court and says, ‘Well, the alleged victim files false claims against me,’ ” said McClelland, 66. “If the defendant is found guilty, then the victim runs to the divorce court.”

If a defendant is worried about having a speedy trial and resolving the charges, McClelland said, he’ll allow the case to proceed. But without that request from the person who’s been charged, he would rather wait.

A domestic-violence conviction, he said “has to be in the back of your mind” if you’re a judge and you’re ruling in a divorce case. “Each case should be decided on its own merits.”

“It’s dangerous and it’s potentially lethal,” said Cathy Harper Lee, executive director for the Justice League, a statewide nonprofit group that advocates for victims of domestic violence. “It’s like tick-tock, until someone is killed as a result of this policy.”

McClelland has been a judge in Morrow County, a rural county of about 35,000 people north of Columbus, since 1986. He stopped ruling on domestic-violence cases while a divorce was pending shortly after that, he said.Harper Lee said the Justice League knows of no other Ohio judges who delay domestic-violence cases to allow a divorce to play out.

Lawyers who work in Morrow County say they are well-acquainted with McClelland’s policy and rarely argue against it. No lawyers have objected that he can recall, he said.

Morrow County Prosecutor Charles Howland said he could not comment on the judge’s policy.

“I’d like to talk to you about that,” he said. “But it’s completely unethical for an attorney to state what he thinks of a judge’s policy.”

McClelland said victims of domestic violence have options if they feel unsafe: They could request a temporary protective order, for example. If someone violates the order, the judge has the option to put him or her in jail.

But Morlan had a temporary protective order. It hasn’t stopped her now-ex-husband from contacting her, she said. Advocates say Morlan’s case is a perfect example of how McClelland’s policy is failing victims. Morlan’s ex-husband has a criminal record that includes stalking and violating a protective order.

Morlan left him in 2009, three years after their marriage, she said, but she couldn’t afford to file for divorce right away. She went to Turning Point, an agency that helps domestic-violence victims, and they helped her find a lawyer. She filed for divorce in March 2012, but that case wasn’t finalized until June.

During those 15 months, the criminal charges against White went nowhere.

But once the divorce was final, White’s case started moving. Prosecutors offered White a plea agreement in which he would plead guilty to criminal damaging for the door and they would dismiss a charge of phone harassment. Initially, he agreed to take it.

On July 1, Morlan went to court expecting to watch him be sentenced. She brought Harper Lee and another victim advocate with her, and when his case was called, Harper Lee reached over and held her hand.

Morlan sat up a little straighter. Years of looking over her shoulder, of avoiding her phone, of being afraid her ex would come to her home at night, could be ending.

White sat at a table in front of the judge and told McClelland that he wanted to hire a new attorney and take back his plea.

Whether he will be allowed to do that will be up to McClelland. A new hearing date has not been set.

From her seat in the courtroom, Morlan started to sob. “Here you expect it to be done and over with,” she said.

Harper Lee said the Justice League plans to file a grievance against McClelland with the Ohio Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Council.

“Culturally, he’s of the mindset that people use these things just to make false allegations to harm each other,” she said. “He does not take domestic violence seriously.”